Contemplations...

We chose to send our children to our community school, not because it was Catholic but because it is our community school. Being that we are Protestant, we could have bussed them down the highway to the public school, but we had sent them out of the community for Kindergarten and felt that that was enough bus riding, especially down a highway.

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves.  The process never ends until we die.  And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.  - Eleanor Roosevelt

If I am going to commit to something, then I commit to that thing as whole heartedly as possible and because I had taught in a Catholic school, I had begun to study Catholicism years before my children went to their community school. I also attended many Liturgies and we, as a family supported the school’s mandates, explaining to our children why we didn’t believe said conviction, and why we were still honouring it anyway. I wanted my children to see their education as just that, an education, and loved when they would bring ideas home to discuss, be it English, Science or Religion. Being taught in their Catholic school offered them a chance to openly experience tolerance and intolerance as well as play around with and develop their own beliefs about religion and spirituality and feel how those beliefs would unfold and evolve.

Last week on Pancake Tuesday, as I call it from my upbringing, my son arrived home from school and with elation said, “Yeah, I smell sausage! Are we having pancakes for Shrove Tuesday?” and I came back with, “Of course, it’s Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday and Shrove Tuesday!” because it doesn’t matter what it is called, and knowing many names for something, just broadens perspectives and vocabulary. What Max desired was to experience that good feeling that he always had from those school celebrations, through food, prayer, tradition, and being in community.

The kids are in high school now, which makes this year the first year that I have not given up anything for Lent, nor have I chosen to offer a specific gift each day for 40 days, but I have been thinking about the practise. Please join me in dialogue here or through my other Social Media venues to discuss thoughts surrounding this time in the Christian calendar as I process these contemplations and allow my ideas and practises to evolve… 

~ Ellyn

Living Alongside of My Children...

As parents we live for moments when we hear things come out of our babies’ mouths like, “I’m having the best day ever!” Especially when we are raising teenagers in this North American society with the pressures that seem to exist for teens. Yesterday was one such day when my girly saw a glimpse of what joy and satisfaction really feel like.

She is in love with the sport of basketball and although the team they met last night was not nearly as well matched with the skills for the game as our girls are, causing them to win with a final score of 54-24, my girly got 27 of those points. She is dedicated and devoted to playing hard and well and she is only in grade 10. It is an aggressive and fast game and there are times when I wish she didn’t love it so much because I struggle with liking it. But, she does and so be it.

She also just started a new semester with one of her classes being Math. She loves how math works and I marvel at, not only her understanding of mathematics, but of how well she is able to convey that to someone else. She has stepped into the mode of tutoring and feels a sense of satisfaction when another student responds with understanding and thankfulness for her help. This takes me back to a time when she was much younger and she walked in after school with a great sigh and announced that if the teacher would just let her work a little bit longer with Jimmy, he would get it! I doubt that Jillian will choose teaching for a career, but for now she has answered the call to be one. When we honour a call, we are gifted with a deep sense of satisfaction. Through Jillian's simple act, I get to be enraptured by this life that I live, alongside her…

~ Ellyn

A Finalé of Sorts...

Today my teens start a new semester. They’ve had a week and a few days off of school as they prepared for and wrote final exams and now they have a new slate of classes to look forward to. For Max, it is his final semester in high school. He’s one of those kids that loves school and until he was in grade nine, arrived home and when posed with my question, “How was school?” answered, “It was great!” This made my life with him so easy. He is an optimist and sees the good in each endeavour. When he was in grade nine, it stopped and I thought that it was just his age and that I had lost that enthusiastic little fella. Then in grade ten, it started again and has continued with only one day in grade twelve that I can recall, when he wasn’t thrilled about something in his school day.

Max was the kind of child who always cherished and made the most of his free time. We have 4-5 tree houses in the yard, a zipline, paintball course, basketball court and our trampoline doesn’t owe us a dime. He had to be coaxed in for dinner, from the snow hills at night even in -30 degree weather and he created and created and created… But he also did any job I asked him to do, diligently and readily without complaint, completed any schoolwork that was brought home without being asked and when he went to bed at night, slept soundly until morning. He learned early to take charge of his own life and I have just been here on the sidelines guiding and marvelling.

I’m not saying that Max hasn’t had his challenges, but he has been a bit of a dream child and as he enters the final semester of his high school career, I am feeling bittersweet emotions. I know that there are kidlets along side of him with struggles that I wish they didn’t have to face at this age, or any age for that matter, and I would love to tell them to remember recess and snack time, story time and helping a friend button his coat, and how simple these things are at asking us to just be. Inspired by Stuart McLean’s School Pledge, I hope that during these last few months of Max’s elementary and high school life, he and his classmates will make time to laugh, really laugh, and to play with a joyful and kind heart because HOW they play is how they will live their life, and I want Max and all children “to follow the path of peace and understanding and live softly on this good earth”.

~ Ellyn